


Allow Humanity

by intotheruins



Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Dora Milaje - Freeform, Friendship, Gen, MCU Kink Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-28 18:40:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15055337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intotheruins/pseuds/intotheruins
Summary: Written for the Dora Milaje Cuddle Pile square on my MCU Kink Bingo card. Everett Ross sees something that seems strange to him, until he tries to explain his reaction to Shuri and realizes he's the one who needs to shift his view.





	Allow Humanity

Everett has no idea what he just stumbled into.

He's been lost for a good two hours now, not that he really minds; Wakanda is fantastic. He'd be happy to wander for days, just so long as he stumbled over food eventually. Or now, really, now would be good, but first he needs to figure out if it's okay to ask or if he needs to just back out of the room slowly and hope they don't notice him.

Who is he kidding, of course they've noticed him. He sees a pair of eyes sliding away from him, then another, but no one is kicking up a fuss or demanding to know what the hell he thinks he's doing, so it can't be too bad that he's ended up here. Right?

Curiosity gets the better of him. He doesn't step into the room, but he does let himself look, since no one is yelling at him.

At least half the members of the Dora Milaje are in the room. It appears to be a rec room of sorts, with couches and games he's unfamiliar with, a fancy contraption that he's fairly certain is some kind of high-tech TV. The room itself isn't what's strange to him—it's the fact that every one of the women in the room is piled on the couch or on the floor, and on top of each other. Cuddling. It's a damn cuddle _pile_ is what it is. 

“You really need to stop wandering off.”

“Sorry.” He doesn't have to turn to know it's Shuri; he's had the privilege of making friends with her in the last few weeks, and he knows her voice well by now. “I was looking for food.”

“Aww, did I forget to feed you?” Everett elbows her in the side and they both laugh. “You went in the opposite direction of what you were looking for, idiot.”

“Well, I'm still not familiar with this place. Brat.” He tacks the last word on at the last second—he's still getting used to the fact that Shuri delights in games of insults. “So... what's going on here?”

“What, you don't have cuddling in America?”

“Well sure, but it's usually... it's just...” Everett waves a hand vaguely in the direction of the couch, sighs. “Not usually in groups like this. Especially not among soldiers.”

Shuri frowns. “Why not?”

“Ah...” He has no idea how to explain gender stereotypes and the consequences of breaking them to a woman who has grown up in such a seemingly equal society. How the women in the military are so often forced to be hard as nails, to fight twice as hard to earn a place simply because men view them as weaker. How men can never be soft and those who try are belittled or called queer, as if that was a bad thing. 

He looks at the women, the soldiers, holding each other as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Letting each other be human. He remembers times in the air force when something as simple as a hug could have grounded him, and the answer to Shuri's question is out before he really thinks it through.

“Because there are a lot of toxic ideas in America.”

He's not sure what kind of reaction he's expecting, but it isn't Shuri throwing an arm around his shoulders and squeezing.

And then smacking him on the back of the head and taking off down the hall, laughing.

Everett casts one last look at the women in the room, so at ease with each other and what they're doing that they don't even think to feel shame, have never been made to feel that they should—and resolves to try to live like that.

“You better be leading me to food!” Everett yells, and takes off after his new friend.

 


End file.
